Under Her Skin

by Michelle Love

  As a matter of fact, he was asked if he wanted to say a blessing over the food this evening and he declined. I don’t know if seeing all this tragedy is something his poor spirit can handle. It seems to be cementing his feelings about things. It seems to be showing him we live in a world that is either without a divine presence or at least without one he cares for.

  As I turn around after telling Tammy and her mother hello, I see Blaine with a plate in hand, heading toward the door. Then I see Meagan’s father get up and go in the same direction. I smell an argument and hurry to intervene as fast as my damn costume will let me.

  “Where are you going with that?” I hear her father shout.

  Crap!

  Blaine stops and turns around. “To your daughter’s room.”

  “I don’t think so,” her father says. I can see the look in Blaine’s eyes and it’s bad.

  I manage to get to where they are and maneuver them the rest of the way out of the cafeteria and into the hallway before anyone pays any attention to them. “Shh,” I hiss at them. Tugging them both by their arms, I pull them around the corner. “What’s the problem here?”

  “He’s taking that to Meagan. I don’t think this food is good for her. She’s on a strict diet. This man doesn’t seem to understand that,” he says.

  “This was made just for her by the nutritionist, Mr. Sanders,” Blaine tells him, then lifts the silver dome off the plate, revealing the single slice of white turkey meat, green beans, and a small amount of white rice.

  “That plate will be fine for her to eat,” I say, then give Blaine a nod, and he covers it back up.

  “But that would mean she’s getting special treatment. We don’t want her thinking she’s any more special than any one of our other four children. So, I am telling you, I don’t want her to have that. As a matter of fact, take her off your list of kids you want to spoil with material things, Mr. Vanderbilt.”

  “How about if I give her only my company?” Blaine asks.

  “I’d rather you stay away from her. As a matter of fact, I demand that you do,” Mr. Sanders says and looks at me. “See to that, or I will. If I do, it won’t be pretty.” Then he turns and walks away from us.

  Blaine doesn’t wait for the man to get out of hearing range before he says, “That man is a complete jackoff.”

  Thankfully, the man keeps walking. I’m pretty sure that, given how he has such a strict way of doing things, he’s used to being called names. He is a jackoff, after all.

  “Come on, Blaine. There’s nothing we can do. Let’s just enjoy the kids who we can.” I try to take his hand, but my feathers get in the way and I just huff and start walking. “Come on. Man, I hate this suit.”

  “I hate that asshole. I think he needs an adjustment,” he mumbles as he follows me. “I think I might just have to make that happen.”

  I spin around and look at him to see if he’s being serious. “Blaine, what does that mean?”

  “Nothing. Don’t worry about it. I should just leave it alone. Like you’ve told me about thousand times since I came here, there isn’t a thing I can do to change any of this. I don’t really know why I’m even here, continuing to pretend that life can be great. For some, I assume it can, but not for all of us.”

  Just like I was worried about, it seems the old Blaine with his shielded heart and dim views of humanity is coming back to the surface. “Blaine, let’s just have fun. Then we can go back to your place and have some naked swim time. What do you say to that?”

  “No, thanks. I think I’d like to be alone this evening. I don’t really feel up to company,” he says as he looks past me into the cafeteria. “Let’s get this shit over with. I can put this fake smile on my face only a little longer.”

  This is not good!

  A Tree for All

  Book Four

  Chapter 1

  DELANEY

  December 2nd:

  “When’s Mr. Vanderbilt coming for a visit?” Colby asks as I check his vital signs. “I made up this rad tune. I want to let him hear it.”

  “I’ll be sure to let him know that, Colby. He’s just been really busy at his job with the holidays. His stores sell a lot of things. I’ll be back after lunch,” I tell him, then leave the room to make my way to the next patient.

  A week has passed since Blaine was here last, on Thanksgiving evening. He’s made excuses every day for why he can’t come to the hospital. I know what the real reason is, though. He can’t handle the sadness—the utter helplessness of being a human and watching other humans struggle. It’s just too hard for him to do.

  Instead of bringing something out in him, all that surfaced was his original outlook on life—the outlook that says, fuck doing things the right and fair way. Look out for number one because no one else will look out for you.

  Taking a break, I go to the break room and take my cell phone out of my pocket. I haven’t stayed a night at his place this last week either. He says he’s not in the mood to be around anyone and would make bad company.

  I think it’s time to force him to see me. Maybe if he does, it will stir some kind of want in him again. I make the call and find his secretary answering his phone. “Hello, Miss Richards. Mr. Vanderbilt is in a video conference. Can he call you later?”

  “Can you tell me what time he’ll be done with that and if he has anything else scheduled after that?”

  “These things usually last about an hour. He has something at four, but he’ll be free here in the next thirty minutes for a couple of hours. You should come by and see him. I think that would help him,” she says in a hushed voice. “He’s pretty Grinchy.”

  “Grinchy, huh? Well, we cannot have that. I will come see him. I’ll be there soon. Thank you. I believe he told me your name is Blanch, right?”

  “Yes, Miss Richards, I’m Blanch. I went to school with his mother. She was one of my best friends. And I saw a light in the man when he was hanging around with you and those kids at the hospital—a light I hadn’t seen since he was a kid, before she passed away. He’s lost it again, and I hate that. I love the man. I wish I could do more to help him, but he never lets me get very close.”

  “I see. Thanks for telling me. I’ll show up with lunch. He and I can have an office picnic and perhaps I can rekindle that light that’s left him,” I say and end the call.

  Now to find someone to cover for me for the next little while so I can go find out if there’s anything left of the Blaine I found myself falling for.

  BLAINE

  “Why would you make a deal with that crappy company, Blaine?” my brother asks me after I end the video conference meeting we had with a toy company from Taiwan.

  “The items were dirt cheap, Kent. How do you not understand that? The toys can be here on our shelves within one week. We need something filling up the toy shelves. With Christmas fast approaching, the toys are flying off the shelves. Manufacturers know there’s a high demand and most of them are making their prices higher than normal. This is always how I do business at this time of year.”

  “But I thought we were going to look for better products for our customers. Those toys will all be broken the same day they open them. Think about the poor kids who get these cheap things,” Kent says as we get up to leave the video conference room.

  Kate finds us in the hallway. “Hey, Blaine, we need to talk.” She steps in next to Kent and walks with us down the long hallway. “You haven’t signed off on the new return policy. I have everything together to start the training of the customer service staff. I have even made a video that can be shown to them so I don’t have to go from store to store.”

  “About that,” I say as I recall the document she gave me. “You have our policy so very different. You have in there that we will exchange things and accept all returns without any exceptions. Now, how are we going to make money when we take back broken things the manufacturers will not accept back from us for credit with them? You’re not looking at the big picture. Only the manufacture
rs who accept returns are the ones we can do that with.”

  “You don’t use ones who accept that,” Kate says as we stop at my office door. Her hands go to her hips and she looks at me like I’m the one who’s annoying.

  “You need to go to the files and pull the companies we do business with. If you find one that takes returns for credit, you can accept returns on their merchandise. You’ll have to make a whole new return policy. Sorry. It’s just business, Kate.”

  “But I thought we were going to try to make this store better,” Kent says as he also is looking annoyed at me.

  “Well, we are. But you two have to understand what it is my stores do for people. They provide the cheapest versions of things they want or need. When you pay the cheapest price, you cannot expect top quality. If they want that, they need to shop elsewhere. It’s not so hard to understand,” I say as I put my hand on the door knob.

  “But you ran the places of business where they could get quality products out of their towns. What do you expect them to do?” Kent asks me.

  “Not my problem,” I say as I shake my head. “Are you telling me these people don’t have a way to get to a large city to make higher quality purchases? Because that’s also not my problem.”

  “You know what your problem is, Blaine?” Kate asks as she looks at me with eyes that tell me she’s disappointed in me for some reason. “You don’t really think about other people.”

  “I do think about them. I think about them a lot more than I used to. And you know what I found out? I can’t really do anything to help any of them. So why try? I’ve found out a way to make money. Lots of money. Money that’s paying you both more than you could ever make on your own. So let that sink in.”

  Then I open the door to my office and find a half-naked elf lying on top of my desk.

  Chapter 2

  DELANEY

  “Finally!” I say as the door opens and Blaine steps inside.

  “Delaney, what in the world are you doing?” he asks as surprise moves over his face—a face that had been void of any emotion when I first saw it as he came in.

  I sit up, getting out of the sexy position on my side, as he comes to me. “I came to see you. I missed you. Don’t you miss me at all?”

  “Now that I see you, the answer to that is yes.” His hands move over my shoulders as he looks into my eyes. “I have missed you very much, and now I’m trying to figure out why the hell I’ve been putting you off.”

  “Because I would get in the way of you being Grinchy,” I tell him as I wrap my arms around him. “I love the business suit on you. Now you really look like a billionaire. So hot!” I press my lips to his neck and hear him make a little moaning sound.

  “Delaney, my God, I’ve missed how you feel in my arms. Don’t let me go this long without being with you again,” he says, then his lips graze my neck as he moves them to mine.

  My heart fills with desire as our mouths mingle. It’s only been a week, but it’s felt so much longer. He ends the kiss, resting his forehead against mine. “You have a bunch of kids at the hospital who miss you too.”

  His body goes tense and he lets me go. “I don’t know if I can do that anymore, Delaney.”

  “Okay, I won’t push you about it,” I say as I get off the desk and follow him. I’m not about to let him shut down. Running my arms around him from behind, I hug him. “Why don’t you just sit down and let me help you relax?”

  His deep chuckle shakes me as I hug him, and he pulls me around in front of him. “First, you have to tell me where you found this naughty, little elf outfit,” he says of the tight teddy that looks like an elf costume.

  “The internet,” I tell him. “I ordered it a couple of weeks ago. I thought it might be fun to role play. You were going to be Santa.”

  “Ho, ho, ho,” he says, then picks me up and plants another kiss on my lips.

  I run my hands through his silky, dark-blonde hair as he carries me back to his desk and sets me down on top of it. His hands move over my shoulders, then down to my waist. Then I feel his fingers moving under the short hem of my tiny outfit. He finds that I have no panties on and he groans, then his lips leave mine.

  Pushing me back onto the desk, he looks at me with an evil grin. “You’re going to have to be quiet, baby. We don’t need an audience gathering outside my office door, listening to you moan.

  My body instantly fills to the top with heat as I watch him lick his lips and push the crotch of my outfit over to one side. I grab the sides of the desk in anticipation of his mouth touching me.

  His growl vibrates his mouth as he kisses me softly. I want to moan so badly it’s not even funny, but I hold it in. I know all too well how sound travels in buildings.

  The hospital has shown me that many times as I’ve passed janitors closets or empty rooms and heard a couple going at it more than once. It does draw a crowd.

  His tongue works some much-needed magic on me as I writhe with the sensations he’s giving me. I hope like hell he asks me to stay the night with him tonight. I feel the need for an all-night session with him.

  With several licks directly to my love lump, he has me falling over the edge, and just as it begins, he stops what he’s doing, and I hear him unzipping his pants.

  Lifting me up, he stands me up in front of him, then turns me around and presses my shoulders until I have my upper body laid out on his desk. I’m shaking with the climax that’s still pulsing around my insides as he thrusts his erection into me from behind.

  I have to bite my lip so I don’t cry out with the pleasure I feel with him inside of me. He fills me up completely, stretching me in the best of ways. He makes little puffing sounds that are quiet, but I love the way it sounds.

  Our flesh smacks quietly, as he’s not making deep enough to be so loud that someone might hear. But I ache for him to go in deeper. He leans over me, his front on my back, and goes in deeper, as if he needed to feel that too.

  His lips rest on my ear. “My God, I’ve missed you, baby.” Then his mouth is hot on my neck as he bites me, then sucks at the tender flesh.

  He has me quivering throughout my entire body with how he handles me. The way he’s pumping himself into me as he sucks on my neck is too much. I make a quiet moan as my body gives into him.

  I hear a soft moan coming from him. “Baby, that feels insanely good. Come all over me.”

  I’m panting and trying hard not to scream out his name. My insides are pulsing and aching for him to give me what he has. I need to feel him jerking inside of me, but he keeps making deep thrusts. Over and over he moves deeply inside of me until his breathing goes ragged, and then he goes stiff and fills me with his heat.

  I moan again, as quietly as I can manage, as my body goes into another deep orgasm, milking his cock for all it’s worth. He bites my neck as he climaxes, most likely to stop himself from yelling too.

  Our bodies slowly stop the squeezing and pulsing, then his bite eases and he kisses the place I know he’s left his mark on. “Sorry, I kind of made a purple place on your neck again.”

  He eases his body off mine and pulls me up with him. He peppers my neck with small kisses, then he turns me to face him and pulls me in for a sweet hug. I put my arms around him and hold him too. “You know, Blaine, I really did miss you.”

  “I’m sorry, Delaney. I’m really sorry for staying away. I can’t explain everything, but I just can’t be that man—the man I know you expect me to be. I see the bad in this world. I just don’t see the point in doing anything differently.” He lets me go to put himself all back up.

  “I think you were trying to make too many changes at one time, Blaine. I think that’s the problem. You took on too much at one time. I have an idea to help you,” I say as I straighten out my little outfit and make my way to the bathroom that’s attached to his large office.

  I snooped around before he got here and checked the place out. It’s kind of a hobby of mine, snooping. The first thing I notice as I look in the mirror is a
quarter-sized, purple mark on my neck and I run my finger over it.

  Then he comes in behind me and trails his finger over it as he looks at it in the mirror. “I’ll fix your hair to cover it. You taste too damn delicious.” He leaves a kiss on the top of my head and turns to open a cabinet. “And I want to be honest with you, baby. I don’t want to be forced to make changes either. I’ve made a ton of money being the man I am. I don’t see any reason in the world to change how I do things.”

  “So you won’t be having that meeting and bringing in people you ran out of business?” I ask with apprehension.

  He shakes his head and comes back with a comb and a small rubber band. He starts combing out my hair as he says, “No, and I know you’re not happy about that.”

  Not happy is a vast understatement!

  Chapter 3

  BLAINE

  I can see by her expression that she’s pissed. “I don’t want to fight.”

  “Well that’s just too damn bad,” she says as her hands go to her hips, the typical stance for her when she’s about to go off. “You said you were going to do that, Blaine. You told me you already had the whole thing set up, the plans just had to be finalized. So what happened?”

  “I changed my mind. I don’t see the point anymore. I don’t want you to be mad at me. It’s …”

  She interrupts me as she holds out her hand, her palm near my face, “Just business! I know. Blaine, here’s the thing. You told me you were going to do something, and boom, just like that, you changed your mind without saying one word about it. That’s worse than never coming up with the idea in the first place. Don’t ever tell me you’re going to do something and then just never do it. I hate that!”

  “I just hurried into it. I don’t usually do things like that. As a matter of fact, this is really the first time I’ve ever told people I was going to do anything and changed my mind about it. You see, I’m not that guy I was for that short amount of time. That was a fake person. You don’t want to be involved with a fake person, do you?”